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No shame for Stanley

Date published: Saturday 28th May 2011 7:33

A Bridge too far

So that’s the end of that then, the dreams of visiting Hillsborough, Bramall Lane and Deepdale are a thing of the past as we where comprehensively beaten over two legs by our best mates from down the A1 Stevenage FC.

To be honest I’ve no complaints, I had to miss the first leg on Sunday evening due to work commitments, but having watched the game on yours truly Sky Sports it was quite clear to me we bottled it, plain and simple. We really should have lost the game 4-1 and following that quite unbelievable miss from a combination of McConville and Jimmy Ryan there was only ever going to be one result. T

hey had a game plan, and as much as I hate to say it, they battered us. Needless to say I’m praying Torquay United smash them in the final as we need revenge next season. Up The Gulls!

Even our manager admitted we were well beaten, and despite the usual winding up and game stopping tactics seen by Stevenage we deserved nothing out of the tie. I must admit following the first half of the second leg on Friday evening I can’t ever remember seeing seven minutes of injury time, just shows what they are all about really.

No wonder they have had complaints from a number of other League Two clubs this season. The behaviour of former Stanley player Mark Roberts in particular was nothing short of disgraceful, I hope he has watched the footage of the game, especially the post match comments of Bury striker Ryan Lowe. Then he could see what his fellow pro’s think of him. Anyway that’s enough talk about those clowns.

Despite this our season really has amazed me to be honest, yet again we were pre-season favourites to go down and following a friendly at Northwich Victoria I along with a number of others said we would settle for 22nd position. To finish fifth really was beyond our wildest dreams. It’s very hard to take but make no mistake Mr Coleman and Bell will learn from it, and I have no doubt next season IF we can keep the majority of the squad together we have a chance of challenging again.

Unfortunately star man Jimmy Ryan looks like he is off, with a number of clubs in for him. After the season he has had I can’t blame him, and if he goes, good luck Jimmy, Stanley Legend!

improve

As for the rest of them, who knows what is in store? The management duo are having a squad meeting to decide who goes and stays. Currently we have a total of 1, YES 1 player signed up for next season, Ian Craney, who MUST improve next season.

If we can get the rest of the lads to commit to another season I am sure we can be up there. I am convinced all we are short of is another quality striker to play alongside, or in support of Terry Gornell and we could be a match for anybody in this division.

But as Mr Coleman has said following our great run and increased publicity I’m sure a number of other bigger League 2 and League 1 clubs will be in for some of them. I’m just hoping that some of the lads can see the bigger picture, now that we have Ilyas Khan running the ship we have no chance of it sinking anytime soon.

Hopefully he will finally bring an end to the tenure of chief executive Rob Heys and banish former club clown Dave O’Neill. As for me along with our absolute disaster of a stadium and pitch they are the last negative aspects surrounding our club.

So to next season, looking at the League 2 map we have a number of huge away trips to make, following the relegation of Plymouth Argyle, Bristol Rovers, Swindon Town and Dagenham & Redbridge.

It’s always disappointing to lose local games and the loss of Rochdale and Bury in the last two seasons has made League 2 a very southern-based League. Hopefully we get the joys of Morecambe again over the xmas/new year period as it’s always a fans favourite. Its been another unbelievable roller-coaster ride of a season but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Thanks again to yours truly Sky Sports for publishing my blog’s and here’s to next season and the joys of the pre-season friendly.